[6] On January 2, 1998, Summers made his professional wrestling debut after teaming with Aaron White to take on Victor Pain and Canyon.

Summers, enlisted in the 20th Special Forces Group[citation needed], continued to work small independent shows across Texas as "Michael Van Slyck", later changed to Sanders.

On March 16, 1999, as Necro Butcher, he won his first professional wrestling championship, after defeating Damon Richards to become IHW Hardcore champion.

Butcher's popularity continued to dominate Texas wrestling, and at his debut in TCW, he defeated rival Jay Diego to become the company's Hardcore champion.

In July 2002, competing in IWA Mid-South, he defeated Mark Wolf, Mitch Page, 2 Tuff Tony, and finally Spyder Nate Webb to become the 2002 King of the Deathmatch.

In mid-2007, at IWA MS Point Proven in Philadelphia, Necro and his frequent tag team partner Toby Klein (aka The Tough Crazy Bastards) battled and were defeated by Low-Ki and Homicide.

Necro eventually won his first IWA gold, the Death Match title, on September 9, 2007, in Sellersburg, Indiana in a three-way dance against Corporal Robinson and Tank.

At Cage of Death VII on December 10, 2005, Necro, along with Toby Klein and Joker, took on Nick Gage, Justice Pain and John Zandig.

Necro began throwing punches and kicks landing multiple shots to the shock of officials who were watching and taking care of the other wrestlers in the cage.

The match was set to be released on video, but footage from the entire event was scrapped due to the amount of injuries sustained by the wrestlers and the rowdiness of the fans.

Summers returned to Juggalo Championship Wrestling at Big Ballas X-Mas Party 2009 where he teamed with Pondo to face The Thomaselli Brothers.

Necro Butcher made his debut for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla on April 9, 2006, the second night of All Star Weekend 3: Crazymania, as the surprise opponent to challenge Joey Ryan for the PWG World Heavyweight Championship in a No Disqualification, Falls Count Anywhere Match.

[19] Necro returned at the 2006 Battle of Los Angeles, competing in the tournament against Super Dragon in a No Count-Out, No Disqualification Match that was the main event of the second night on September 2.

He was originally scheduled to compete against Kevin Steen in a Street Fight, but the no-show of the Briscoe Brothers resulted in a number of matches being changed.

[24] Necro became a regular member of the PWG roster through the majority of 2008, teaming with Chris Hero to defend the honor of Candice LeRae against the Human Tornado and his allies in Claudio Castagnoli and Eddie Kingston.

Strong suffered an injury the weekend before, so it was decided that the others would compete in a Three-Way Match to determine the Number One Contender to the PWG World Heavyweight Championship.

Necro would later help fight off Claudio Castagnoli from interfering in the main event, which saw Chris Hero defeat The Human Tornado for the PWG World Heavyweight Championship in a Steel Cage Guerrilla Warfare Match.

[31] As a gesture of thanks for helping him, Hero granted Necro a spot in a Four-Way Match for the PWG World Heavyweight Championship on the first night of All Star Weekend 7 on August 30.

Low Ki had Necro locked in a Dragon Sleeper submission hold, but he refused to give up, which allowed Hero to successfully pin Kingston to retain the title.

[33] Hero would once again give Necro an opportunity to go over on him in the 2008 Battle of Los Angeles as they faced each other in a non-title No Disqualification tournament match that was the main event of the first night on November 1.

First, he threw a chair into the ring, hitting Jack Evans as he was wrestling Tyler Black, and then he broke up an ensuing Six Man Tag Team match after punching the referee.

[38] At the October 2, 2010, tapings of Ring of Honor Wrestling, Necro was defeated by Homicide in a Butcher's Rules match in his final ROH appearance before being let go by the promotion.

[39] Outside of the lighttubes and barbed wire which gave him his fame, Butcher has also gained critical acclaim for his wild brawls and very physical "slugfests".

[6] Most recently, many promoters have taken note of Butcher's brawling skills and have increasingly begun to put him in non-deathmatch competitions with wrestlers he would not normally be paired up against.

IWA-MS in particular has attempted matches between Butcher and Samoa Joe (twice), Homicide, Roderick Strong, Chris Hero, Super Dragon, Low Ki and Eddie Kingston.

Butcher once wrestled in Chikara as part of 'Team WWF' on their February 24, 2006, Tag World Grand Prix as CP Munk – the 'Straight Edge' Chipmunk (Almond Free, Acorn Free and Better Than You), a parody of CM Punk as it was a large chipmunk costume with 'CM Punk-style' markings (including a large Pepsi logo on his arm and tape over his fists with an 'X' drawn on each).

They would defeat ROH students Matt Turner & Anthony Franco in the first round, but lose to Eddie Kingston & Sabian in the second.

Ichikawa asked for an immediate restart, and they fought a match that lasted longer until Butcher won with a Necro Bomb onto a pile of chairs.

Butcher has also appeared in the Queens, NY based Impact Championship Wrestling where he was defeated by Maximus Sex Power in his debut.

Summers' retirement match took place on June 11, 2016, in Sayreville, New Jersey, as the main event of Pro Wrestling Syndicate's Super Card 2016.